It is known that certain 1,4 bishydroxyethylaminoethylamino and 1,4,aminoethylaminoanthraquinones have anticancer activity. One of these compounds bis1,4 hydroxyethylaminoethylamino 5,8-dihydroxyanthraquinone dihydrochloride is on the market for treatment of certain cancers including acute leukemia, lymphoma, breast cancer and prostate cancer. It is known under the generic name as mitoxantrone and under the marketing name of Novantrone®. This compound and 1.4 his aminoalkylamino 5,8-dihydroxyanthraquinone compounds were patented by Murdock et al. in 1981. The impetus for synthesizing these compounds came from structure function relationships of the drug hydroxydaunomycin, daunorubicin, adriamycin® approved for the treatment of cancer and leukemia. This drug had a structure similar to the compounds produced by Murdock et al. and also by Zee-Cheng and Cheng. The daunorubicin was one of the most active drugs then known but had a draw back because it has been linked to cause heart failure.
Subsequent studies have revealed that mitoxantrone usually has less activity than daunorubicin although they both have generally equal survival rates. The drug has also shown activity in the treatment of multiple sclerosis and is approved for the treatment of multiple sclerosis. It also showed activity in the treatment of adjuvant arthritis in a rat model. Mitoxantrone although utilized, has not been a popular anticancer drug in humans. A recent patent revealed that alkylating groups could be placed at the 1,4 position in the anthraquinone molecule resulting in compounds with good activity with reduced drug resistance. Anthraquinone compounds with groupings at the 2,6 position has activity to inhibit telomerase activity. Anti telomerase activity is a known target against cancer. Substitutes at the 1,5 and 1,8-have shown anticancer activity. A patent issued to Potter et al (U.S. Pat. No. 6,465,522) includes a novel family of anticancer drugs comprising an anthraquinone group linked to an alkylating agent, the agents having potent anticancer activity and displaying potent activity against drug-resistant tumors. The clinical response to anticancer agents in cancer chemotherapy is ultimately limited by the emergence of drug resistant cells.
The anthraquinone group of the molecules is found in a number of molecules having anticancer activity, for example adriamycin and mitoxantrone (Islam et al., 1985, J. Med. Chem., 28: 857). In adriamycin the anthraquinone group is present as part of an anthracycline structure. Typically, drugs containing the anthraquinone group show cross-resistance with adriamycin, i.e. anthraquinone analogues usually show poor activity against adriamycin resistant tumors. Thus, a need exists for compounds that have greater therapeutic index. Typically anti-cancer bis-aminoalkylamino or bis-hydroxyalkylaminoalkylamino compounds are synthesized from 1,4,5,8-tetrahydroxyanthraquinone usually as the leuco form which is more reactive. The hydroxyl groups of the M-S carbon undergo reaction and typically the other two hydroxyl groups do not. Higher temperatures or longer reaction times may give a tris derivative but not a tetrakis derivative. Also higher temperatures of the reaction gives a cyclical derivative that is considerably less active. Chlorine groups can be replaced by the amino chlorine substitution. In the anthraquinone series, chlorine groups can be replaced in the 1,4,5 or 8 positions utilizing alkyli and copper salts. Benzyl alcohol improves the substitution by increasing the effectiveness of the catalytic effect of the copper salt.
A review of the literature revealed several patents that showed that all four chlorine groups could be replaced. Kim Sang Ho, Yu-Min Chen, U.S. Pat. No. 6,811,575 Nov. 2, 2004, described a method for marking hydrocarbons with anthraquinones. These compounds are tetra derivatives of 1,4,5,8-tetrachloroanthraquinone. Also Tsukasa Ohyama; Shizuo Kuroda; Keisuke Takunia; Hiroshi Aig, U.S. Pat. No. 5,342,974 1994 described derivatives of tetra halogenated anthraquinone and their use as near infrared rays absorbing optical filters. Finally David J. Thompson U.S. Pat. No. 4,446,047 1984 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,455,253 1984 described pleochroic anthraquinone dyes synthesized from 1,4,5,8-tetrachloroanthraquinone.